Not all clever inventions get widespread notice. Hundreds of thousands of patents flood into the US Patents Office every year, but very few end up becoming successful products. Camping fans might be surprised to hear about the Shadow, a 5th wheel trailer designed to be pulled by a small car. The shadow was special because it allowed the driver to spin 360 degrees underneath the trailer, offering maneuverability other small campers couldn’t match.

The Shadow was developed in the 1970s by Missouri-based company Harmon Industries. The Shadow’s unique 360-degree field of movement was made possible by a steel plated mounted to the top of the towing car’s roof, allowing the trailer to “take advantage of the roll-resistance built into modern roofs to firmly anchor the trailer hitch,” According to the May 1972 issue of Popular Mechanics. The magazine also claimed that drivers reported the Shadow had very little sway in heavy winds — a common problem with 5th wheel trailers.

When it was released, the trailer was popular enough to be featured as a prize at least once for the TV game show Let’s Make A Deal.

Suddenly, the Shadow disappeared from the market. Many online blogs suggest that the Shadow was unsafe in certain conditions — a theory that’s corroborated by a YouTube comment from a man who claims to have worked at Harmon Industries plant in Missouri.

“I used to work there putting them together,” YouTube user b.n. morgan wrote. “If I recall correctly the roof mounted system caused damage to the rear end of a vehicle so they didn’t last long.”

Despite potentially being a safety risk, the Shadow trailer is unlike anything on the road today. Check out the video below to see the maneuvering capabilities that the trailer offered.

UPDATE: Jeremy Clarkson Quits Top Gear, Show Cancelled for Good

By Mircea Panait | 2015-03-14 14:15 GMT

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Petrolheads all over, ladies and gents that enjoyed Top Gear’s “ambitious but rubbish” take on all things automotive, it pains us to announce that Jeremy Clarkson calls it quits in his column in The Sun.

In a piece titled “So we lose the tiger… but gain acid-spit snail,” Jeremy Clarkson talks about nature’s battle against extinction and the future of the Top Gear trio. Without further ado, this is how Jezza broke the silence in his most recent column for the tabloid:

“I THINK it’s fair to say that nature made a mistake when it invented the dinosaur. It was too big, too violent and with such small and puny arms it was never going to be able to operate heavy machinery or even enjoy a bit of special “me” time.” Pretty easy to understand, but we haven’t even got to the most tear-jearking part yet.

“All the dinosaurs died and now, years later, no-one mourns their passing. These big, imposing creatures have no place in a world which has moved on.” What these two lines point at is the dying of Top Gear as a show and how the presenter will have to move on.

Despite 880,000-plus signatures for the #BringBackClarkson petition, Jezza suggests that all our efforts were in vain: “You can start as many campaigns as you like and call on the support of politicians from all sides, but the day must come when you have to wave goodbye to the big monsters, and move on.”

Even if not for May and Hammond, if Jeremy will make a pay-per-view YouTube channel and continue filming car reviews, it’ll still be enough to soothe our fevered petrolhead brows. Best of luck, Jezza!UPDATE: Captain Slow confirmed that Top Gear is kaput in a not-so-cryptic manner.

UPDATE 2:The Mirror reports that “Jeremy Clarkson called Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon ‘a lazy Irish ****,” and that “Clarkson ranted for half an hour then punched him in the mouth – he was bleeding and dizzy so he had to go to hospital.” In related Jeremy Clarkson news, bbc.co.uk was offline this afternoon, possibly because digital protest group Anonymous threatened an attack on the site a few days ago. So; it’s been a week, and still no answer. How exactly do you pronounce ‘fracas’? — James May (@MrJamesMay) March 14, 2015
Clever letter on the #jeremyclarkson controversy in today’s @FT#justaskingpic.twitter.com/tiftHXS4wW — Dearbhail McDonald (@DearbhailDibs) March 14, 2015